After WW II, America had a lock on manufacturing. Our standard of living rose way up. At one point, the U.S. treasury held 25,500 tons of gold.
All species expand their population commensurate with their perceived supply of resources. We doubled the size of the average house.Size of Average American House Doubled Since 1950s

We had bigger families and bought more cars and STUFF.
By about 1970, the rest of the world had rebuilt much of their manufacturing capacity. U.S. wages froze to reflect low-wage arbitrage from emerging Western competition. We limped along on stagnant wages. We papered over the problem with an increase in credit.
We lost our lock on manufacturing but, we maintained our standard of living by borrowing 80% of the savings from foreigners.

Then came competition from the East. We didn't want to surrender our standard of living but, we lost 500,000 jobs a year just to China.. About 155,000 people try to enter the job market every month. Even schooling didn't seem to help.
55% of all Americans with a bachelor's degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed last year.

#23 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

OK, so we lost our job decades ago. ALL residential real estate prices are determined by the wages in the same area. The average person has to be able to afford the average house. Unfortunately, house prices continued to inflate even after wages stagnated,,,, and then fell.
Residential RE has fallen but that has only helped those who still have a job.
Unemployment is up to 23%;Alternate Unemployment Charts

2,273,392 jobs were outsourced in 2011.Job Outsourcing Statistics | Statistic Brain
Even the R&D jobs are leaving in large numbers.
We lost our job and our standard of living is going to fall dramatically.
GOV has tried to hold back the tide by printing currency and over-paying people to work for GOV.
The B.I.S. says that the bond market is going to crash. That will take out treasury bonds and GOV won't be able to pay salaries and retirement to all those GOV workers and contractors.